The award of this silver medal was approved by His Majesty
King George VI on the 16th of November 1943 and was gazetted in
the South African Union Governments Gazette No.
3407, dated the 27th of October 1944.

The qualifications for the medal were as follows:

1. The signing of the Africa Oath acknowledging liability for
service with the Union Defence Forces anywhere in Africa, and/or

2. The signing of the General Service Oath acknowledging
liability for service with the Union Defence Forces in any
theatre of war.

The following also qualified:

1. Personnel of the Union Defence Forces who served in a full-
or part-time capacity.

2. Personnel of other uniformed services, male or female, who
performed full-time service with their respective units. These
services included membership in the South African Police,
Essential Services Protection Corps, South African Military
Nursing Services, V.A.D. officers and members, and womens
services. In case of full-time service the qualifying period was
30 days. The part-time qualifying period was 18 hours of
non-continuous training.